Dear Creative Minds Families,
Welcome to a new school
year! This blog post is to let you know of an important addition to our parent
handbook this year—family
involvement volunteer hours. (You also got a letter in your parent pocket with the same information.) Starting this year, we are asking each family to contribute eight
hours per year. Many of you have already been volunteering from time to time,
and we are so grateful for your help! We’ve found it to be a tremendous win-win
whenever families have the opportunity to get more involved in our program. The
children are proud of their parents’ contributions, the teachers appreciate the
fresh perspectives and diverse talents you bring to the classroom, and our families
feel more connected to each other and to the school. By adding this opportunity
and expectation for everyone, our goal is to help every family find a
meaningful way to engage with our school so we can all benefit from each
other’s gifts and talents.
So how will this work? What do I need to do?
We are asking each family
(regardless of how many children you have enrolled here) to contribute eight
hours per year. That’s just a couple hours per quarter, and there will be a
wide variety of ways you can contribute to our program, either here on campus
or remotely. See our website at www.creativemindscdc.org/family-involvement/
for the most current project list at any given time. If there’s something else
you’d like to contribute that isn’t on the list, we’re always open to ideas! Here
are just a few samples from the list:
* Read a special book to the class and lead an art
or sensory project related to it.
* Help with playground beautification or help
build playground equipment.
* Help with housekeeping tasks: change broken
blinds, replace light bulbs, etc.
* Make felt/flannel board stories to go with some
of our favorite books.
* Serve on planning committees for
recruitment/interviews or facility design
But I’m seriously SO busy!
We realize that many of
our families are working full-time and don’t have a lot of extra time to
commit. This is why we are asking only eight hours per year, and why we have a
mix of short and long projects and some that you can do from home on your own
time. Also, anyone from your family can contribute. Parents, step-parents,
grandparents, aunts, uncles, adult siblings—anyone
who would like to share their talents is welcome.
If you have any
questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at (408) 445-0101 or email Richa or Jennifer. We
thank you for your understanding, and for partnering with us as we continue to
grow and thrive together!
Thanks,
Richa Kapur
Director
Creative Minds CDC